Chronicle of a Death Foretold Journal

Character: Quote: Analysis Santiago Nasar – Ignorant, Innocent, Aloof, Heroic“On the day they were going to kill him, Santiago Nasar got up at five-thirty in the morning to wait for the boat the bishop was coming on.” (García Márquez 3) This quote contributes to the idea that Santiago was blissfully ignorant and innocent throughout the book. It describes how he was just living his life showing feelings of happiness and excitement in contrast with those of the Vicario brothers’ right before they killed him. This contrast really contributed to the innocence of Santiago. Bayardo San Roman – Kind, Accepting, Forgiving, Loving

“‘Sometimes I couldn’t think of what to say,’ she told me, ‘but it was enough for me to know that he was getting them.’” (García Márquez 93–94) This quote shows how forgiving Bayardo is even with the culture of the society they live in which is harsh against even the slightest crime such as speaking out as these little actions could destroy one’s honor forever. Victoria Guzman – Violent, Protective, Unforgiving, Regretful “‘Let go of her, white man,’ she ordered him seriously. ‘You won't have a drink of that water as long as I'm alive.’” (García Márquez 24) This quote is exemplary of all the traits I have used to describe Victoria Guzman. She is very protective of her daughter and will resort to violence to do it. She is unforgiving to anyone who does hurt her daughter and is also regretful that she left Ibrahim Nasar seduce her as a teenager. Angela Vicario – Regretful, Sorrowful, Sincere, Loving

“‘Sometimes I couldn’t think of what to say,’ she told me, ‘but it was enough for me to know that he was getting them.’” (García Márquez 93–94) I used the same quote as Bayardo’s to describe her wife as both of their traits are exemplified in it. The amount of letters that she sent Bayardo shows her regret, love, and sincerity. It also shows how sorrowful she is without him. Vicario Bros. – Trapped, Honor-bound, Regretful, Guilty

“No matter how much I scrubbed with soap and rags, I couldn’t get rid of the smell.” (García Márquez 78) I used this quote to describe both of the Vicario brothers because it is an excellent example of their true feelings. These being the regrets and the guilt that set in after they killed Santiago. It also showed that they were somewhat trapped by this honor code that society had pushed on them. Pura Vicario – Old-fashioned, Traditional, Cautious, Protective “The family took it not only seriously but with great excitement. Except Pura Vicario, who laid down the condition that Bayardo San Roman should identify himself properly. Up till then nobody knew who he was.” (García Márquez 39) This quote exemplifies the traits I have identified with Pura by that it shows how cautious and protective she is of her family when Bayardo had shown up and she didn’t know exactly who he was. I thought that it also showed how old-fashioned she was as she needed to get to know this man well before associating with him as opposed to today where strangers will meet up and go on dates.

Quote: Analysis:

Clothilde – A milk shop owner who’s shop is the setting for Santiago’s murder. “Clotilde Armenta then appeared behind Pablo Vicario and shouted to Cristo Bedoya to hurry up, because in that faggot town only a man like him could prevent the tragedy.” (García Márquez 41) Xius - Theme of Love over money.

“He was healthier than the rest of us, but when you listened with the stethoscope you could hear the tears bubbling inside his heart.” (García Márquez 37) Maria Cervantes – An elegant whore.“Santiago Nasar and I, with my brother Luis Enrique and Cristo Bedoya, went to Maria Alejandrina Cervantes's house of mercies. Among so many others…” (García Márquez 54) Divina Flor - Victoria Guzman's daughter, Santiago desires her sexually. “They hadn't stopped howling since I went into the house, when...

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...sons home. “They found Angela Vicario lying face down on the dining room couch, her face all bruised…Pedro Vicario, the more forceful of the brothers picked her up by the waist and sat her on the dining room table. ‘All right, girls,’ he said to her, trembling with rage, ‘tell us who it was.’ She only took the time necessary to say the name. She looked for it in the shadows, she found it at first sight among the many, many easily confused names from this world and the other, and she nailed it to the wall with her well-aimed dart, like a butterfly with no will whose sentence had always been written. ‘Santiago Nasar.’ she said.” (Page 47)
Angela Vicario named Santiago Nasar as the perpetrator and whether he did it or not, Angela gave him a death sentence the moment his name escaped her lips. When Angela’s brothers asked who took her virginity, she could have named any man in town. It is never confirmed nor denied whether Santiago Nasar had sex with Angela Vicario or not. However, if he was not the man to take her virginity, then why would Angela Vicario give his name? This raises many new questions, for instance, did they have consensual sex? Did Santiago rape her? Were they in love but never had sex, and was Angela only trying to protect Santiago? Or was the entire sexual encounter made up? Marquez never answers these questions, and the reader has to make several inferences.
The image of a butterfly pinned to a wall is symbolic of both Angela Vicario and...

...William L. Richman
Professor Cranston
HUM 2641
March 31, 2013
Chronicle of a DeathForetold
For starters, I would really love to point out that this short novel, Chronicle of a DeathForetold, really pulled me in. I’m going to discuss the role the women played throughout this story. First, I want to touch on the fact that it seemed a lot of important women played a very large part in the main characters, Santiago Nasar’s, life. Secondly, I want to discuss the knowledge these women knew of what was to happen to Santiago and the opportunities they had to intervene and possibly change the outcome. Last but not least, I want to get into the fact the Angela Vicario seemed to have held most of the power over Santiago’s fate in this novel. In my opinion, women played very important roles in this novel.
As I stated earlier, women seemed to have played a large part in Santiago Nasar’s life. In the little time that takes place before Santiago’s dreadful death it seemed there was more of a presence of women than men in his life. Of course it goes without saying that an important figure in his life was his mother Placida Linero whom he lived with. In addition, he had women servants who lived with him as well. These women were Victoria Guzman, the cook, and Divina Flor, her daughter. Next we’re introduced to a woman named Clotilde Armenta who was the owner of the milk shop in the...

...To what extent has adversity been projected through the symbolism applied in the novella “No One writes to the Colonel”
Adversity has been projected to a great extent in the novella “No One Writes to the Colonel”. The colonel and his wife are shown fighting against grinding poverty, deprivation, loneliness, death of their only son and numerous hardships through symbolism throughout the novella.
In the beginning of the novella, the colonel finds “only one little spoonful” of coffee in the tin. The colonel is seen scraping the coffee tin, to take the last scrapings of coffee out. The couple has no money to buy even basic necessities of life and try to find ways to feed themselves somehow, for just some more time… This projects the idea of loneliness and emptiness in the colonel and his wife’s life. For pressing the colonel’s shirt, the wife heated irons on the coal stove. They could not afford anything more sophisticated, and just managed somehow with coals. Throughout the novella, the couple are seen living life at the brink, with no idea as to where their next meal will come from, and how will they manage to sustain themselves.
The theme of adversity in the story “No One Writes to the Colonel” is said to be inspired by Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s own experience of poverty and unemployment, when the newspaper he was working for as a correspondent, El Espectador, shut down in 1955. He spent a hard and penurious year then, not knowing where his next meal...

...Conflict Resulting From the Negative Effects of Rigid Societal Expectations in A Chronicle of A DeathForetold by Gabriel García Márquez and The Stranger by Albert Camus
Everyone has felt the pressure of societal expectations during their lifetime. The negative effects society brings on one’s life can lead to a feeling of rejection towards the people who do not conform to meet those standards. Gabriel García Márquez, author of Chronicle of a DeathForetold, and Albert Camus, author of The Stranger, both construct the external moral conflict of society versus the protagonist in order to critique the way society fails to accept the moral values of the people who differ from the norm.
In Chronicle of a DeathForetold, Gabriel García Márquez emphasizes the central conflict of society versus the protagonist, based on beliefs and values, through the controversy leading up to the murder of Santiago Nasar, which is based on family honor and pre-marital sex. When Pedro and Pablo Vicario ask their sister, Angela Vicario, who had stolen her virginity, her response is described as “She only took the time necessary to say the name … and she nailed it to the wall with her well-aimed dart, like a butterfly with no will whose sentence has already been written. ‘Santiago Nasar,’ she said”(47). Describing Angela’s response as “only took the time necessary”...

...
Chronicle of a DeathForetold
Society shapes who we are, our beliefs, morals, and way of living. The way we are raised impacts our outlook on life and how we live it.Gabriel Garcia Marquez, the author of Chronicle of a DeathForetold, uses the way he has been raised to inform readers and give insight to the values and morals of the Colombian society. He also brings his sense of religion into his novels. Based off of the reading, one is made aware of the severity of honor in this society and the importance of religion. The reader can also see the many religious inferences throughout the book. Both the severity of honor and the religious inferences give the reader a look into the Colombian society and its core values .
Honor is an extremely large part of the Colombian society and Marques depicts its severity of all through out the novel. He does this by using Angela and the Vicario brothers.
“The brothers were brought up to be men. The girls were brought up to be married. They knew how to do screen embroidery, sew by machine, weave bone lace, wash and iron, make artificial flowers and fancy candy, and write engagement announcements… my mother thought there were no better-reared daughters. 'They're perfect,' she was frequently heard to say. 'Any man will be happy with them (Marquez,31). In a Colombian society the virtue and purity of a woman is extremely important. “The...

...Chronicle of a DeathForetold: Cultural Analysis
In America, there is a judicial system that helps justice prevail, to punish criminals, and let the innocent walk. The judicial system allows for there to be a trial where evidence is presented. Through the evidence presented, the jury then decides if the person on trial is innocent or guilty. Never in any trial, in any courthouse, under any judge would it be allowed for a murder to be justified so that one could restore a relative’s honor. However, this is not true in the location of Chronicle of a DeathForetold, as the Vicario twins were found innocent due to “legitimate case of honor, which was by the court upheld in good faith” (Marquez 48). The reason that this honor is upheld is because the Vicario twins live in a different culture. The story Chronicle of a DeathForetold allows a reader to look in on a different society and compare and contrast the cultures. There are many cultural related themes that are developed throughout the story. Some of the themes are stronger than others. These themes help show the book’s character and flavor. The goal of this paper is to thoroughly investigate various cultural aspects of Marquez’s Chronicle of a DeathForetold.
To achieve this goal I have organized this paper into four different themes relating to culture...

...ave contained.” (Page
98­99)
Tiffany Yang
Mrs. Bolle
Hour 3
13 February 2015
Shit Out Of Luck
Within ​
Chronicle of a DeathForetold, ​
by Gabriel García Márquez, ​
this intriguing novel
includes a sort of metaphysical murder mystery in which the detective, ​
Gabriel García Márquez
himself, reconstructs events associated with the murder 27 years earlier of Santiago Nasar, a rich,
handsome fellow who lived in the Caribbean town where the author grew up. ​
Márquez​
plays
himself in the novel, interviewing people who remember the murder and studies documents
assembled by the court. ​
He gathers various kinds of data—dreams, gossip, philosophical
speculation, weather reports—and creates a chronological record of what occurred. Márquez
repeatedly uses strange, surreal details to highlight otherwise ordinary events. These surreal
details are referred to as magical realism. ​
Márquez uses magical realism in ​
Chronicle of a DeathForetold​
to presage the thickening plot of a cool­blooded manslaughter and illustrates anecdotal
acumen of details about Santiago Nasar giving the audience an experience of a different reality
from what the audience would refer to as objective.
The first instance of magical realism occurs when Santiago Nasar had dream the night
before his death that he was flying: ​...

...Animals: Humor, Symbolism, and other Literary Devices in Chronicle of a DeathForetold
In Chronicle of a DeathForetold, the author, Gabriel García Márquez, utilizes the motif of animals as symbols: pigs for ironic humor, rabbits as foreshadowing, and many other animals to aid in description, characterization, and establishment of theme.
​Márquez uses pigs as motifs the novel. He makes a big deal out of the knives that Pablo and Pedro use while describing the murder. “The Vicario twins went to the bin in the pigsty where they kept their sacrificial tools and picked out the two best knives: one for quartering, ten inches long and two and a half inches wide, and the other for trimming, seven inches long and one and a half inches wide. They wrapped them in a rag and went to sharpen them at the meat market.” Márquez then goes into great detail about how they are pig knives used for killing pigs. This adds insult to injury for Santiago, being an Arab, thus being part of is a culture that considers pigs to be filthy. This is an example of the author’s ironic style of humor.
​Márquez provides an additional bit of ironic humor while Nasar is being slaughtered during the murder scene. “Trying to finish it once and for all, Pedro Vicario sought his heart, but he looked for it almost in the armpit, where pigs have it.” This further develops the cruel, ironic humor established by killing Nasar...